Morning Gloryville: Meet The People Who Enjoy An Early Morning Sober Rave

Morning Gloryville, pioneers of sober raving, kicked their party off in London in 2013. While the city’s clubs close left, right and centre, they have swept the world with their ‘conscious clubbing’ vision. The party starts at 6:30am — a hot, sweaty, unadulterated danceathon filled with lashings of organic coffee, smoothies, free hugs, massage, yoga and various holistic happenings. But who exactly are the early-birdy, sober ravers they attract? Health nuts, teetotallers, hippies, or everyday Londoners? Have they shunned nightlife in favour of the early morning buzz? Most importantly, have they ever been to Fabric? Feeling every inch Mark Corrigan at Rainbow Rhythms, we headed over to the party to find out what makes this band of merry morning folks tick.

Sam: It’s my first time at a morning rave. I heard that Morning Gloryville was a really child-friendly place, and we thought it would be fun for our daughter. It’s the first time she’s been to a rave, although she went to Carnival this year, and she had a great time. We’ve met three or four other kids here, a bit younger than her. I’m a healthy person to a degree. I’m attempting to be vegetarian. Health doesn’t really have anything to do with why I’ve come here, but hopefully this will energise me for the day. Although, I might be knackered, we’ll have to see! I used to go clubbing, but not since this one came along. It’s a real shame that Fabric has closed. It was the first club I’ve ever been to. The city feels like it’s dying, culturally. I’ve noticed loads of places closing. It’s sad. The city seems to have had its day.

Katie: I think you do get the vibe that it’s health conscious, clean-living type people here — the recycling is a bit of an issue though! There’s loads of cups and loads of plastic going in the bin. I’d love to still go clubbing, but I haven’t for a while. I’ve just stopped breastfeeding though, so maybe I’ll start going again. I didn’t used to go a lot lot, but I did used to go to a lot of gigs, and lots of festivals. I went to Fabric when I was a kid. It’s a shame everything is closing. It all seems to be about money. Everything’s money led nowadays.

Shona: This is my second time — we’ve both taken the day off today, but last time I did go into work. It was really good fun and gave me a great buzz for the day. I would say that I’m generally healthy. I think that’s definitely a big part of this though. Certainly the dancing, and the yoga and everything — it’s like being at a gym. There are people inside actually doing their workouts, doing squats, doing lunges. You don’t feel self-conscious at all. There’s so many different types of people just wearing crazy things, all different shapes and sizes. I don’t really do clubbing anymore — I’m a bit old! I used to go out a lot, but I can’t remember the last time I went to a club. Even when I’ve been clubbing in the past, or gone to Ibiza or whatever, if you’re in the right frame of mind, it doesn’t matter if you’re not drinking. I think there’s a place for both.

Laura: It’s my first time here — Shona brought me. I’m trying to get better, healthwise, but I don’t do yoga or practice clean eating or anything like that. I think mentally, coming here gives you a nice buzz. Just having people shouting out, ‘You’re beautiful! Feel the love!’ — it’s just really nice, positive vibes, and definitely about body confidence! As soon as you get in there and see all the people — some are wearing crazy outfits, others normal gym gear, some are just wearing dresses — you don’t feel self-conscious about anything really. I’ve heard millennials described as being Deliciously Ellas during the week, and Patsy Stones at the weekend, which is kind of true. I’m not drinking this month, but I might tend to binge drink at the weekend. I love a dance, but I’ve never been into ‘proper clubbing’. I’ve never been to Fabric, but it’s a real shame it’s closed. It’s never really appealed to me staying up until seven in the morning, but it’s such a big part of London’s culture, and I know people who love it. They just want to have a good time, and don’t want to cause any trouble. People are always going to want to drink and have a good time.

Jo: It’s my first time here, and I absolutely love it. We just came to have a good time and to promote our leggings. I feel buzzing for work, it’s a great way to set yourself up for the day. I’m a health-conscious person, and sober raving is absolutely part of that. I used to go clubbing but not so much anymore, it’s just not on my vibration. Festivals yes, but drugs and alcohol for me are just, not anymore. It’s a shame they’ve recently shut down Fabric because it’s a big part of London. They’re focusing too much on how it happened. There’s alcohol deaths all the time, in bars, outside of pubs, and everywhere. It’s silly. Alcohol for me is one of the worst drugs. I would love sober raving to be the clubbing of the future, though. It depends on the person. Not many people are in the state that we are. First time I ever did it I felt self-conscious. You’re full of ego, but once you drop that, then you just feel great.

Psy: It’s my tenth time here. We just came back from Bali, and we did a lot of ecstatic dance, where it’s all sober, conscious dancing. It’s the only way to party. Unless you go to Boom and take mushrooms! It’s a natural human reaction to be self-conscious, but I think if people can experience it once… It’s quite confronting to dance sober for the first time. But if people can overcome that then they can learn to be free within themselves. Essentially they are learning to release themselves from judgement. Drop the ego, and drop the drugs.

This is my first time here. It’s really good. You just kind of lose yourself. I wouldn’t normally do something like this, so it really helps to get you out of yourself. I’m very much a health-conscious person — eat healthily, go to the gym. It’s good to have something with no drugs, no alcohol. I feel like I’ve had a workout. I’ve sweated loads and feel knackered now — definitely better than the gym! I feel ready to face work, because I’ve got loads of energy. I used to go clubbing a lot, but not so much in the last couple of years. Going out sober at night is definitely not as fun. These events accommodate the people who’ve given up that kind of stuff, and encourages other people to give up as they will be thinking ‘oh there is still fun stuff I can do’. I can definitely see more stuff like this popping up. But unfortunately I just don’t see it becoming mainstream. I think it will always be niche.

It’s my first time here — sober dancing is a new thing for me. I thought it was brilliant. Really, really good. At first I was self-conscious, but then you kind of break that. It’s a very friendly, very hippy vibe — ‘I love you’, love yourself, flower power, you know. I am kind of a healthy person. The sober side is appealing to me. I feel good for the day, and it got me up early too, so I’ll be early for work. I do go clubbing in London quite a bit — I went last weekend. These kinds of events could certainly make an impact on nightlife, somehow. I do hope this kind of thing catches on, though. It’s a really good thing. I’ll 100 per cent be coming back.

I’ve been to these raves a few times. It’s just such a positive environment; people having a good time because they can, not because they’re drunk or high. Lots of good energy. I wasn’t going to come until yesterday, until I saw they were doing laughter yoga! The people here are very friendly, open and accepting. I’ve started to recognise a couple of them now. I do dance classes anyway, and I’m quite used to dancing without alcohol. I can imagine for some people it takes a while to get going, but there’s such a big group so you don’t feel out of place. Clubbing in London is aimed for people whose idea of a good night is drinking their own body weight in alcohol. Coming to things like this where everyone’s really accepting and friendly, to dance about and have a good time without alcohol is great. It’s part of a whole different layer to London that people don’t really know about.